Potty training crisis as 70% of schools say kids are starting in nappies (with some as old as NINE still in them)

Potty training expert Amanda Jenner is calling for health visitors to be formally trained to help parents potty train their kids before they start school

By Andrea Downey, Digital Health Reporter

29th June 2017,9:03 am

Updated: 29th June 2017,12:09 pm

KIDS as old as nine are still wearing nappies to school, amid a potty training “crisis” sweeping the UK, the country’s top expert warns.

Amanda Jenner is sent hundreds of emails a day from panicked parents whose children are not toilet trained.

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Amanda Jenner says she gets panicked calls from parents saying kids as old as nine are still not potty trained

Some of the most alarming stories are children as old as nine who need potty training and are refusing to go to school for fear of bullying.

A country-wide survey of 700 teachers revealed 70 per cent of primary schools are reporting an increase in the number of five-year-olds starting school wearing nappies.

Worryingly, some schools expect one in six new pupils not to be toilet trained.

According to the latest report from the Lecturers and Teachers Association, the average age at which children are toilet trained has increased to three-and-a-half years old.

Fifty years ago the average was just 15 months.

Amanda claims the effects of toilet training too late can be catastrophic for both children and their parents.

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Amanda, who runs Potty Training Academy, is calling for health visitors to receive proper training in how to potty train kids

And she says Dorset County Council’s heavily criticised plan to charge families for nappy bags, set to be copied by at least 10 other councils, is a poor solution to the problem.

The mum-of-three, from Bournemouth, said: “We are in the middle of a potty training crisis and no one seems to realise it.

“I have nine or ten Skype calls a day with parents who are panicking because their children are two months from starting school and nowhere near being potty trained.

I have nine or ten Skype calls a day with parents who are panicking because their children are two months from starting school and nowhere near being potty trained.

Amanda Jenner, potty training expert

“It’s a terrible situation. It’s extremely stressful for the parents and it is embarrassing for the children.

“Parents constantly tell me their children won’t go to school for fear of being picked on because they are still wetting themselves.

“And these poor kids can’t go to sleepovers or parties for the same reason.

“Then there are teachers who sometimes spend more time wiping children’s bottoms than teaching the rest of the class.

“It’s not good for anyone.”

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Amanda, pictured with her potty training team, says the way to stop nappies clogging up landfill is to toilet train kids before they are two

Sheila Mercer, a head teacher in Norfolk with more than 14 years’ experience, agrees with Amanda.

She says she has noticed a marked increase in the number of children arriving at her school who are not potty trained, and says the knock-on effects are challenging.

Sheila said: “We have an intake of 60 each year, and six years ago all of them were toilet trained.

“We did not even think to have to mention it to new parents.

“Now, each year, we expect at least 10 children not to be trained.

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“It affects a child psychologically if they are not potty trained when their peers are. They start to become isolated quite quickly.

“From a school’s point of view, it’s a question of trying to find a way of dealing with it with shrinking budgets.

“You have to get support staff, but many of them quite reasonably have concerns about cleaning children who have fouled.”

Sheila said they have been able to toilet train some children within their first year of school, proving it’s the parents who haven’t been able to train their kids.

She added: “If there was one change we could make, it would be that health visitors give parents more support.

We spend millions each year throwing away nappies and having them clogging up landfill sites when we shouldn’t need to.

Amanda Jenner, potty training expert

“A lot of parents say they don’t feel like they have enough help, and health visitors will only step in when the child is seven.”

Amanda, who runs Potty Training Academy to provide advice on toilet training to parents and schools, is also concerned by health visitors’ view on potty training.

According to Amanda, health visitors do not receive any formal training on how to potty train a child and only start seeing children who are not potty trained by the age of seven.

She said: “I was shocked when I found out the guidelines for health visitors.

“They really need formal training and to be able to step in a lot earlier so we can tackle this huge problem.”

Her call for better training comes at a time when parents are being increasingly squeezed by councils to get rid of nappies.

Dorset County Council recently introduced a yearly charge of £13 to dispose of nappies.

The measures are being introduced to save money and keep nappies from clogging up landfill sites.

The move was described as “deeply unfair” by affected parents.

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Amanda Jenner says is health visitors were given guidance on how to potty train children it would take the pressure off of parents and kids

Across the country, ten councils are imposing charges for larger bins or special plastic sacks to allow parents to dispose of nappies.

But Amanda believes it will do nothing to deter the problem.

She said: “The issue is far larger than just a cost saving initiative for a local council.

“We spend millions each year throwing away nappies and having them clogging up landfill sites when we shouldn’t need to.

“Children who are too old wearing nappies is the real problem, not a £13 nappy charge.

A lot of parents say they don’t feel like they have enough help, and health visitors will only step in when the child is seven.

Amanda Jenner, potty training expert

“If the government were to make formal toilet training an official part of the health visitors role, and parents and nurseries were given the tools to be able to do this, then we should start seeing more children being confident on the potty or toilet by the age of two.

“This would lead to a decline in the use of disposable nappies by up to 30 per cent, meaning that tax payers would save £12 million a year.

“This would have more impact and address long term causes.”

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